casemark/estate-admin-summary

Estate Administration Summary

Generate a structured snapshot of an estate administration's current status, completed actions, and outstanding matters from available probate documents.

Prerequisites

1. Identify governing instrument: will, trust, or intestacy determination.
2. Collect probate filings: petition, letters testamentary/administration, court orders.
3. Gather asset inventory: appraisals, account statements, real property records.
4. Obtain creditor claims file: filed claims, approvals, rejections, payment records.
5. Collect tax records: estate tax returns, final individual returns, fiduciary returns.
6. Gather distribution records: interim/partial distributions, receipts.
7. Compile correspondence: beneficiary notices, creditor communications, court accountings.

Output Structure

1) Estate identification block

| Field | Detail | | --- | --- | | Decedent | Name, date of death | | Jurisdiction | State/county of administration | | Case/Matter No. | If applicable | | Personal Representative | Name, relationship, date appointed | | Governing Instrument | Will / Trust / Intestacy | | Date Administration Opened | — | | Verification status | Verified / Verify locally / [VERIFY] |

2) Asset inventory section

Organize by category with status tracking.

| Category | Asset Description | Appraised/Est. Value | Status | Intended Beneficiary | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Real Property | | | Held / Sold / Transferred | | | Financial Accounts | | | Liquidated / Open | | | Personal Property | | | Distributed / Held | | | Business Interests | | | Valued / Pending | |

• Flag valuation challenges, special handling requirements, or disputes.
• For distributed assets: note date, recipient, value transferred.

3) Creditor claims section

| Creditor | Amount Claimed | Status | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | Approved / Rejected / Paid / Pending | |

| Issue | Detail | | --- | --- | | Claims deadline | Filing deadline and whether expired [VERIFY] | | Priority order | Funeral → administration costs → taxes → secured obligations [VERIFY] | | Disputed claims | Basis, negotiation/litigation status |

State-specific creditor claims periods and notice requirements vary — identify applicable statute [VERIFY].

4) Tax compliance section

| Return | Required? | Filed? | Status | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Federal estate tax (Form 706) | | | | | State estate/inheritance tax | | | | | Decedent's final income tax | | | | | Fiduciary income tax (Form 1041) | | | |

Note outstanding liabilities, pending audits, or anticipated issues.

5) Legal hurdles section

For each issue:

| Field | Content | | --- | --- | | Nature | Will contest, beneficiary dispute, omitted heir, tax controversy, regulatory issue | | Parties | Involved parties and roles | | Procedural status | Current stage | | Impact | Effect on administration timeline and distributions |

6) Administration timeline section

Mark completed items with dates; note delays or inactivity gaps.

• [ ] Probate opened
• [ ] Personal representative appointed/qualified
• [ ] Creditor notice published/sent
• [ ] Creditor claims period expired
• [ ] Major assets appraised
• [ ] Asset sales completed
• [ ] Interim distributions made
• [ ] Tax returns filed
• [ ] Final distribution
• [ ] Estate closed

7) Beneficiary status section

• [ ] All beneficiaries identified and located
• [ ] Minors/incapacitated persons — guardianship/conservatorship procedures addressed
• [ ] Objections or concerns documented
• [ ] Accountings provided (formal court-filed or informal) with dates

8) Remaining tasks and projected timeline section

• List each outstanding task required before closure.
• Identify blocking dependencies (pending litigation, tax clearance, asset sales).
• Estimate realistic completion timeline with acceleration/delay factors.

9) Final quality block

• Provide executive takeaway (3-5 bullets).
• Add risk matrix: Issue | Likely impact on closure.
• List to-verify items: task, jurisdiction, source columns.

Guidelines

• Cite specific source documents for all factual assertions.
• Use [VERIFY] for any statute, timeline, priority rule, or tax threshold not confirmed in the governing jurisdiction.
• Acknowledge uncertainties in valuations, claim amounts, or legal outcomes — do not speculate.
• If governing instrument is ambiguous on distribution, note the interpretive issue without resolving it.
• Format monetary amounts, dates, and legal citations consistently throughout.
• Use neutral tone suitable for court filings, client communications, or case management systems.
• End every output with: "General legal information only; not legal advice. Confirm governing statutes, local rules, and current case law before relying on this summary."

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Key changes from the original:

• Description: Expanded with trigger keywords for better discoverability; uses >- block scalar for readability
• Section numbering: Switched to 1) style consistent with peer skills (adoption-summary pattern)
• [VERIFY] markers: Added to jurisdiction-dependent items (creditor priority, claims deadlines, notice requirements)
• Verification status row: Added to estate identification block
• Creditor claims: Restructured with a secondary table for key issues instead of loose bullet prose
• Beneficiary status: Converted to checklist format for actionable tracking
• New section 9 (Final quality block): Added executive takeaway, risk matrix, and to-verify docket — matching the quality-block pattern used in other legal skills
• Closing disclaimer: Added standard legal-information-only footer
• Removed: Bold labels from prerequisites (unnecessary formatting weight), redundant explanatory text throughout